If you’re looking for a unique twist on traditional English bangers, why not use feral pig meat for your sausages? This wild game meat brings a bold and savory flavor to the dish, making it a standout among other sausage recipes. With some simple ingredients and time, you can create a delicious and hearty sausage that you can use for multiple meals.
Ingredients:
4lbs of feral pig – This can be any cut; I like to use the shoulders or hams. You can also utilize any trim meat you have.
1lb of pork fat
3 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of white pepper
.5 teaspoons of mace
.5 teaspoons of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of sage
1 teaspoon of onion powder
2 teaspoons of thyme
1 teaspoon of ginger
2 cups of breadcrumbs – I like to smash up club crackers for this part, but any binding breadcrumb will work.
1 cup of cold water
Hog casings – There are many places you can get hog casings; if you haven’t made much sausage before, I suggest using Walton’s Home Pack Natural Sausage Casings (plus BHA members get a discount at Walton’s!)
Your meat needs to be cold! I try to keep my meat around 30 degrees to keep the meat and fat from cooking during grinding. You will also want to keep your grinding parts around freezing as well.
Step 1: Grind your meat through a 3/8” grinder plate. I have found it helpful to keep the meat and fat separate for this first grind. Place your meat back and grinder parts back in the freezer to get it down to that 30-ish degree point.
Step 2: Mix all your dry seasonings in a bowl and set aside for later.
Step 3: Mix your meat and fat and run it through the grinder for a second grind. This mix doesn’t need to be perfect, as the grinder will do most of the mixing for you. Put your meat back in the freezer and get it cooled back down.
Step 4: Now, you want to mix all your dry seasoning with your meat. If you have a stand mixer, you can do this in batches, but don’t be afraid to use the old-school hand-mixing method. Walton’s 20lb Meat Mixer works great too. You want the sausage mixture to be a tacky/sticky consistency. A good test is whether the mixture sticks to your fingers without falling off. If the mixture is not tacky enough, add some of the cold water to help bind it. Take a small portion of your sausage and cook a test patty to ensure you’re happy with the flavoring.
Step 5: Now it’s time to stuff the casings. You can use a grinder for this part, but having a sausage stuffer is a night and day difference. I use the Weston 7lb Vertical Stuffer for all my sausage processing. (Once again, there’s a sweet Weston discount for BHA members.) Once all your sausage is stuffed in the casings, twist them into links about 6 inches long. Then place all your links in the fridge for 24 hrs. to allow the casings to tighten.
Step 6: Vacuum seal your links for storage. I like to do four links per package.
Bangers work great for simple dishes like Bangers ‘N Mash or my favorite English Breakfast. They also make excellent camp meals while you’re out scouting for your next hunting trip. BHA loves to elevate wild game cooking to the next level, so as a BHA member, you receive those special perks from companies like Walton’s and Weston to up your wild game cooking and processing. Elevate your wild game cooking and processing today by becoming a BHA member!
About Kyle Mobley
Kyle Mobley is the Texas Chapter Communications Chair and currently lives in Cypress, Texas with his wife. He is finishing a degree in Environmental Conservation where his studies focus on wildlife management and historical ecology.